Costco card switch proves painful for many members by Janet Tu at Seattle Times. “Turns out, quite a few of them didn’t get their cards. Or they’re having trouble setting up online access to their new accounts at Citi. And they’re waiting exasperatingly long times to get through to customer service at Citi…Some wrote of being on hold with Citi for up to an hour and a few threatened to cancel their Costco memberships.”Read more

Walmart’s David Cheesewright shares international game plan by Kim Souza at The City Wire. “Cheesewright told the media there is no room in the portfolio for another country, but there are growth opportunities in expanding in some of the markets where Walmart already has a presence — namely Mexico and China where the majority of capital investments for new stores will be deployed over the next years.”Read more

Bed Bath & Beyond Q1 Comp Sales -0.5% “…compared with an increase of approximately 2.2% in the prior year period. Comparable sales from customer-facing digital channels grew in excess of 20%”Read the release

Bed Bath & Beyond misses Street 1Q forecasts via CNBC “On a per-share basis…it had net income of 80 cents…The average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 86 cents per share.”Read more

Restoration Hardware Stock Surges on Williams-Sonoma Merger Speculation by Amanda Gomez at The Street. “I don’t think Gary Friedman, the CEO of Restoration, is ready to surrender… but you are going to see that stock pop because that’s a rumor that seems to make so much sense that people run with it” (said) TheStreet’s Jim Cramer.”Read more

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Forbes: Home Depot takes unusual step of disassociating the company from its cofounder Bernie Marcus’s endorsement of Donald Trump by Dolia Estevez. “Bernie Marcus retired from the company 14 years ago, so he is not speaking on behalf of The Home Depot. The company does not endorse Presidential candidates,” Stephen Holmes, Director of Corporate Communications at The Home Depot, told me.”Read more

WalmartLabs Helps Empower Women and Girls in India Through GrantsRead the release

Treehouse – the eco-friendly construction materials and products store – is opening store #2 and spawning a wholesale redevelopment of prime corner in North Dallas by Maria Halkias at Dallas Morning News. “Treehouse CEO Jason Ballard approves of the new space that will house the concept he co-founded. “We’re glad that when Treehouse shows up, the neighborhood gets better.”Read more

For retailers, closing stores isn’t as easy as it once was by Krystina Gustafson at CNBC. “Over the last year and a half, the bottom third [of the market] has really turned the corner,” said Ryan McCullough, a real estate economist at CoStar Portfolio Strategy. “I don’t want to overstate that there’s going to be some kind of renaissance, … but if you’re a large retailer and you’re looking to see what stores to cut, I think it would have been very obvious over the last couple of years. Maybe it’s less obvious now.”Read more

Competitive pressure mounts for Publix by Ashley Gurbal Kritzer at Tampa Bay Business Journal. “At first blush, Safeway’s launch in South Florida is a blip in the local grocery market…But one facet of Safeway’s Florida debut is particularly notable…The new stores — all three of which are rebranded Albertsons — launched with online shopping and one-hour delivery service, via refrigerated trucks “with multiple temperature zones, so frozen items stay frozen and vegetables are crispy fresh when delivered…Publix Super Markets Inc. doesn’t offer online shopping”Read more

Food Lion now lets you pay for your groceries on your phone by Katherine Peralta at Charlotte Observer. “…it accepts mobile payments via Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay at all of its nearly 1,100 stores. The grocer also said it has completed its “chip-and-pin” rollout, meaning all of its stores now accept new chip-and-pin credit and debit cards.”Read more